Refrigerating apparatus



May 6, 1.952 R. s. GAUGLER REFRIGERATING APPARATUS 2 SHEETS- SHEET 1Filed April 8, 1950 5 *Zyg INVENTOR.

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Z/M I ,WMV dov HIJ. ATTRNEYJ May 6, 1952 R. s. GAUGLER 2,596,021

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed April e, 195o 2 sHEETs-sHEET 2 IN V ENTOR.

c/mo. GA 06.4 fx. BY

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Patented May 6, 1952 REFRIGERATING APPARATUS VRichard S. GauglelgDayton, Ohio, assigner to General MotorsCorporation, Dayton, Ohio, acorporation of Delaware Application April, 195), Serial No.`15fi,'l70' 5claims:` (ci. sra-icas) This invention reiates to freezing devices ofthe" ice tray. and grid type generally employed in the'l freezingcompartment of household refrigerators;

The present invention relates particularly'to Virnproven'lent` over thefreezing 'device disclosed in my copending application Serial No."

116,293, led September 17, 1949.

Ice 1clocks harvested from a freezing device of a household refrigeratorare employed by the user of the refrigerator for various purposes andirelarge or of such shape that theymust' barmanually cracked orchipped'into'smaller pieces for certainiuses. nt one time large piecesor cubicallike blocks of ice may be desired for insertion into large`diametered drinking glasses, vvideV mouthed insulated jugs andinsulated bottled beverage carrying cases or containers whereinrelatively slow` melting of the ice is desired; .At another timerelatively small pieces or sticks-of ice may be desired in orderftopermit the ice to be inserted into tall narrow diametered glasses,narrow mouthed insulated bottles and narrow' mouthed sick-roomreceptacles wherein more rapid melting of the ice may be desirable.

It is an object of my'presentinvention to provide an improved freezingdevice for use in household refrigerators and a novel method ofharvesting ice therefrom.

Another objectof my invention is to provide a single freezing devicewith similarly formed compartments from which ice pieces of differentygeometric shapes can be harvested.

A further object of my invention is to provide an improved freezingdevice comprising a tray adapted to contain a body of Water to be frozenand a grid removably disposedin the tray having Walls forming, whenWater is frozen in the tray, separate ice blocks having a substantialportion thereof extending continuously from one side to the oppositeside of the tray and at least another Wall for scoring the ice blocksaloneT desired lines intermediate their ends.

It is' a still further object of my invention to provide a freezingdevice of thev type described in the foregoing objects with adistortable resilient molded plastic grid and means carried by the traythereof for elevating the grid relative to the tray whereby the grid maybe manually flexed to progressively and/or simultaneously separate theice blocks along their scorings into smaller ice blocks and to releasethe ice from the grid.

A more specinc object of int/invention is to provide a freezing devicecomprising a tray and quently the ice blocks formed in the device andharvested therefrom are found to be either toov gridtherefor having atopportion and walls depending therefrom into the tray at differentdistances relative to oneanother so that when tray'is only partiallyfilled with water and the Water frozentherein', long relatively narrowstiche of ice of smailheight can be harvested thererom and whensubstantially fillcdwith Water and the Water frozen' therein'shortblocks of ice of relatively greatheight can'be harvested therefrom. 'AFurther objectsY and advantages of thev present invention will heapparent from the following description, `referencebeing had to theaccompany-- ingV drawings, wherein a preferred :form oi the present'invention'is` clearly shown."

In the drawings?-` Fig. l is a top plan viev-.r of my inf-.proved'freezing device;

Fig. '2 Fie. 1;

Fig.' '3

is a side view 'oi the device shownin is anend View of the freezingdevice showing means on the tray for elevating the grid relativethereto;

ig. e is a sectional view taken on the line ci Fig. land showing waterfrozen inthe device the form of long narrow sticks;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line ti-Jui of Fig. 3 showingthemounting of the grid elevating means on the tray;

Figi 5 is a fragmentary sectional vicvf taken on the line of E--ltofl'lig. 1 showing the diierence in' the `distance of extension of acertain wall of the grid into the tray relative to other walls thereof;

Fiel A7 is a side view of the grid;

Fig. 8 isa side View of the freezing device showing the grid thereoftogether with ice adhering thereto elevated relative to the tray;

Fig. 9 is a View showing the grid in the form it takes when twisted;

Fig. ll) is a sectional view taken on the line iii-ii) of Fig. 8 showingan ice block extending continuously across the tray and scored centrallythereof; and -l l1 is a sectional view similar to Fig. l0 showing thegrid twisted and the continuous ice blocks split along their line oiscoring released frorn the grid.

Referring to the drawings, for illustrating `my invention, I have shownin Figs. l, 2 and 3 thereof a freezing device for containing water and`adapted to be placed in the freezing compartment of an evaporatormounted in a household refrigerator or in a freezing compartmentprovided in the refrigerator. The freezing device comprises aone-piecegrid structure il and a sheet metal, preferably aluminum, trayl2. The grid ll is molded of any suitable moldable plastic com-V poundhaving the desired characteristics as distinguished from stretchablerubber material. The molded plastic grid is distortable and sufficientlyresilient to return to its original shape after having been twisted ordistorted and is of such nature that it affords a means of applyingpressure to ice blocks formed therein. Since moldable plastic compoundssuitable for use in making a grid structure of the type` disclosed haveas their main ingredient a material which produces molded surfaces thatare water repellant, water will not adhere to such surfaces and thefrozen bond between ice and its contacting walls is a mechanical bondrather than a bond due to adherence between molecules. Therefore, suchsurfaces greatly facilitate loosening of a grid from ice in a device ofthe type herein disclosed. The present grid structure I I is thereformolded from polymerized ethylene material commonly called polyethyleneand known to the trade as Polythene 3'I formed thereon (see Fig. 3)which serves to release the freezing device from its support in anevaporator or cooling element and also serves to elevate the grid andice adhering thereto relative to the tray as will be presentlydescribed. It will be noted that the lever 3I is pivotally mounted atone side of the end of tray I2 and that the center of the circular cam3l is offset relative to the lever mounting.

Grid unit II comprises a reticulated top or' cover portion I4, whereinthe reticulations are formed by a plurality of openings I6, and integralvertical walls I'I and I 8 depending therefrom (see Figs. 6 and 7). Thewalls I'I and IS are each tapered in cross-section by being thicker attheir upper portion than at their lower edge. The set of walls I'I arespaced apart longitudinally of the grid II and extend from the top I 4to the bottom wall of the tray I2. The wall I8 is arranged parallel tothe length of grid II and extends from top I4 to a point substantiallymidway between the top of transverse walls Il and their lower edge. Thusthe lower edge of wall I8 is spaced a substantial distance from thebottom wall of tray I2. Walls II and I8 of grid II divide the interiorof tray I2 intermediate its top and bottom into a lower portion whereinthe transverse Walls I'I form a row of relatively long narrowcompartments for a purpose to be hereinafter described and an upperportion wherein the longitudinal wall I8 forms a scoring means for apurpose to be presently described. The top portion I4 of grid I I hasoutwardly extending peripheral edge parts I9 overlapping the top ofupright walls 2| of tray I2 and it will be noted (see Figs. 2 and 6)that edge parts I9 extend outwardly over the ends of tray I2 a greaterdistance than over the sides of the tray for a purpose to be hereinafterdescribed. Grid II also has short Y depending walls 23 at the endsthereof (see Figs. 5 and 6) which are continuations of a thickened part24 (see Fig. 4) of the top portion I4 thereof and extending along itslong sides. Walls 23 and the thickened part 24 of grid II cooperate withone another to form a continuous flange around the grid which depends ashort distance into the tray I2 and serves to facilitate locating thegrid in its proper position within the tray.

The upright Ywalls ZI of tray I2 are bent or rounded over, as at 26 (seeFigs. 4 and 6); to form a rim around the tray and this rounded-overportion includes a wall 2l depending a substantial distance downwardlyfrom the rim of the tray at one end thereof (see Figs. 3 and 5). Wall 2lserves to increase the structural strength of tray I2 and provides amounting for a lever means. A lever 3I having a handle 32 and a mountingportion 33 is pivotally mounted upon the tra-y I2v by a stud 34 whichpasses into an opening in the end wall 27 and is suitably secured to ametal piece 36 located in back of wall 21 (see Fig. 5). Mounting portion33 of lever 3| has a cam When ice is desired to be formed in the presentdevice the grid II is placed in tray I2 and the device is held over asink and water or other liquid to be frozen is run from a faucet intothe tray through the openings I6 in the top of grid II. If it is desiredto obtain long narrow sticks of ice of short height from the device, thetray is only partly lled with water such, for example, to a leveladjacent the bottom edge of grid wall I8. The device containing the bodyof water is placed in a freezing compartment of a refrigerator or in anevaporator or cooling element of a refrigerating system associated withthe refrigerator and located within a compartment thereof to be cooled.After this shallow body of water in. tray I2 has been frozen into longynarrow ice'sticks 4I (see Fig. 4) separated from one another by thetransverse grid walls I'I and extending entirely across the tray, thefreezing device is removed from the evaporator and the ice sticks 4I maythen be harvested therefrom.

Handle 32 of lever 3l is moved downwardly or in a clockwise directionabout its mounting to rotate cangl against the freezing support for thedevice and a force applied thereto causes the cam 31 to break the icebond between the device and its support whereupon the freezing device,comprising grid II and tray I2, can be readily removed from its support.Thereafter lever BI is moved upwardly or in a counterclockwise directionabout its pivotal mounting to rotate cam 31 against the overhanging endpart I9 of grid II and a slight force applied thereto will elevate gridII and the ice sticks 4I adhering thereto relative to and upwardly oftray I2i to an in-Y clined position such, for example, as is illustratedin Fig. 8 of the drawings. Since more of the exterior surface area ofthe ice sticks 4I contacts the grid walls II than that contacting thetray, the bond between the ice sticks and the tray walls is readilybroken and the sticks remain bonded to the grid walls during elevationof the grid relative to the tray. Ice blocks formed between walls of theresilient grid adds rigidity thereto and causes the grid together withthe ice blocks adhering thereto to be bodily elevated relative to thetray without loosening the blocks. In order to release the ice sticks 4Ifrom grid II and its walls Il, the operator grasps each of the adjacentend parts I9 of the grid and applies a twisting or distorting force tothe grid which causes movement of the tapered grid wall II relative tothe ice sticks and breaking of the bondr therebetween to release the icesticks 4I therefrom whereupon they may fall back into the tray I2 or maybe collected in any other suitable or desirable receptacle. Such atwisted or distorted position of the resilient grid is illustrated inFig. 9 of the drawings and it is to be understood that after ice stickshave been released therefrom the grid again assumes its originalposition shown in Fig. 7. The ice sticks 4I are of such size and shapeas to permit them to be inserted into v"ta-ll narrow glasses, narrowmouthed insulated Thermos bottles or narrow mouthed sickroom receptaclessuch for example as ice bags or caps such as blocks of a more cubicalshape, are dez siredto be obtained from thev present device the tray`1I2is. substantially filled with vwater so that the level@ thereofisslightly below the top I4 of grid I I. In case the tray is filledtoo'full of water, the excess water may be removed from the deof long.exposed survice by 'causing it to iiow outwardlyv thereof throughA theopenings I6 in the top portion I4 of grid" I I.v Openings I6 will alsopermit the water upon freezing to expand upwardly therethrough so asnot-to disturb the `normal position of the grid'relative to the tray;`Upon freezing the substantially filled tray of water the grid togetherwith ice adhering thereto is elevated relative to the `tray in themanner hereinbefore described andas shown in Fig. 8 of the drawings. Theice blocks 42 are separated from one another by the grid walls I'I andthey extend or at least have a substantial portion thereof extendingVcontin- U uously across the tray I2 from one side to the opposite sidethereof (see Fig. It should be noted that the longitudinal grid wall I8has scored or marked the upper portion end surface of the ice blocks 42along lines intermediate their ends. In the present invention thisscoring of the ice blocks 42 is to be distinguished from prior deviceswherein a grid wall or partiticmextends from the top to the bottom of atray and divides i the ice into" separate cubical-like blocks. Theseicebloclfzs 42, if harvested from the device in their continuous form asillustrated in Fig.` "10,

would be too large for general purposes or uses and therefore thescoring thereof as described permits them to be broken into smallerblocks as will now be explained. After the grid and ice adhering theretohas been elevated relative to the tray, as shown in Fig. 8 in thedrawings, the operator grasps each of the edge end parts I9 of the gridand raises the grid and ice farther upwardly of tray I2. The operatorthen applies a distorting force to the grid II to twist it and cause itswalls II and also wall I8 to move relative to the ice blocks whereuponthe twisting of the wall I8 applies force to the continuous ice blocks42 and splits them apart into the form of a plurality of smaller blocks43 and simultaneously releases the smaller ice blocks from the gridwalls (see Fig. ll). The plurality of small ice blocks 43 may fall backinto the tray I2 or they may be collected in any other suitablereceptacle. These blocks of ice 43 are ordinarily suitable for insertioninto large diametered glasses, wide mouthed Thermos jars or jugs andinsulated bottled beverage carrying cases wherein a more prolongedrefrigeration is desired over the rapid refrigeration obtained in theuse of the long narrow ice sticks as hereinbefore described.

I have shown and described simultaneously splitting apart and releasingall of the ice blocks from the grid, after elevation of the grid and icerelative to the tray, and dropping of the ice blocks back into the tray.After this operation has been carried out any desired numbers of iceblocks can be readily harvested from the tray by sliding them up theinclined tray end wall to remove them therefrom. However, the device issuch that it lends itself capable of different operations to meetvarious requirements. For example, .ther user of thedevice may desiretore. move only a few of theice blocks from the grid at one time.' Thisdesire may be fulfilled by turn-` ing the elevatedgrid and ice adheringthereto upside down and then applying a twisting force to one end `ofthe grid suiicient to release only the desired number of ice blockstherefrom while permitting others to remain bonded to and positioned inthe grid. After this operation has been performed the grid and the otherice blocks therein may be placed upon the freezing support in an upsidedown position so that the top portion of the grid restsupon theVsupport. When` it is desired to harvest more ice blocks from the grid itis removed from the freezing support and again twisted to release thedesired number of ice blocks therefrom.

From the foregoing it should be apparent that I have made an improvementin freezing devices for use in household refrigerators by providing adevice and a novel method of harvesting ice therefrom which will produceice blocks of different geometrie shapes and sizes. My improved freezingdevice is of the same shape and size as devices now in universal use andcan be substituted'therefor in order `to afford the users of existingmechanical refrigerators a choice in the shapeand size of ice blocks tobe formed in and harvested from their refrigerator to meet variousrequirements of pieces of ice about the home. My invention permits theformation of ice pieces for specific purposes and thereby eliminates thenecessity of manually cracking large blocks of ice -into smaller piecesafter they have been harvested `from a freezing device of the typecomprising a tray and a grid.

While'the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed,constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted, as may come within the scope of the claims whichfollow.

What is claimed is as follows:

l. A freezing device comprising in combination, a tray adapted tocontain a body of water to be frozen, said tray having a bottom which iscontinuously flat throughout its extension intermediate side and endwalls thereof, a resilient grid capable of being manually distortedremovably disposed in said tray, said grid including a set of transversewalls extending from said flat bottom of the tray to substantially thetop thereof in spaced apart relation to form, when water is frozentherein, separated individual ice blocks extending continuously from oneof said side walls to the opposite side wall of said tray, said gridalso having a longitudinal wall formed integral with said set oftransverse walls, said longitudinal wall depending into the tray andhaving its lower edge spaced a substantial distance above saidcontinuous flat bottom thereof to score the upper portion and surface ofthe separated ice blocks intermediate their ends, and means forelevating said grid together with ice blocks adhering thereto relativeto said tray whereby said grid may be distorted to split the ice blocksapart along said scorings into a plurality of smaller ice blocks and tosimultaneously cause their release from said grid.

2. A freezing device comprising in combination, a tray adapted tocontain a body of water to be frozen, said tray having a bottom which iscontinuously flat throughout its extension intermediate side and endwalls thereof, a resilient grid capable of being manually distortedremovably disposed in said tray, said grid including a 7 set oftransverse walls extending from said flat bottom of the tray tosubstantially the top thereof in spaced apart relation to form, whenwater is frozen therein, separated individual ice blocks extendingcontinuously from one of said side walls to the opposite side wall ofsaid tray, said grid also having a longitudinal wall formed integralwith said set of transverse walls, said longitudinal wall depending intothe tray and having its lower edge spaced a substantial distance abovesaid continuous flat bottom thereof to score the upper portion andsurface of the separated ice blocks intermediate their ends, said gridhaving a part thereof extending from said walls and overlapping one ofsaid tray end walls,

and manually actuated means carried by saidr one tray end wall forengaging said overlapping part of said grid to elevate the grid togetherwith ice blocks adhering thereto relative to said tray whereby said gridmay be bodily distorted to split the ice blocks apart along saidscorings into a plurality of smaller ice blocks and to simultaneouslycause their release from said grid.

3. An elongated resilient ice tray grid capable of being manuallydistorted to release ice blocks therefrom, said grid comprising a set oflongitudinally spaced apart upright Walls extending transverse to thelength thereof and adapted to engage the bottom and side walls of acontinuously flat bottomed wall tray for dividing the interior thereofinto a, row of narrow relatively long separated individual compartments,said grid also comprising another upright wall formed integral with saidtransverse walls and extending parallel to the length of the grid, andsaid another wall having its lower edge terminating intermediate the topand bottom of said transverse walls to form an ice scoring means acrossthe upper portion of each of the separated individual compartments.

4. An ice tray grid as dened in claim 3 wherein all the upright Wallsthereof are tapered upwardly from their lower edge to their top portion.

5. An elongated resilient ice tray grid capable of being manuallydistorted to release ice blocks therefrom, said grid comprising a set ofspaced apart upright walls all extending substantially parallel to oneanother in the same direction and adapted to engage the bottom and twoopposed upwardly directed walls of a continuously flat bottomed walltray for dividing the interior thereof into a row of narrow relativelylong separated individual compartments, said grid also comprising atleast another upright wall formed integral with and extendingsubstantially at right angles to the walls of said set thereof, and saidanother wall having its lower edge terminating intermediate the top andbottom of said set of walls to form an ice scoring means across theupper portion of each of said separated individual compartments.

RICHARD S. GAUGLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the

